Charles Spurgeon Collection: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet: 20 Exposition of Psalm 119:153-160
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Charles Spurgeon Collection: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet: 20 Exposition of Psalm 119:153-160
TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 20 Exposition of Psalm 119:153-160
Other Subjects in this Topic:
Exposition of Psa_119:153-160
by Charles Spurgeon
153. Consider mine affliction, and deliver me: far I do not forget
thy law.
154. Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to
thy word.
155. Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not thy
statutes.
156. Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord: quicken me
according to thy judgments.
157. Many are my persecutors and mine enemies; yet do I not
decline from thy testimonies.
158. I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they
kept not thy word.
159. Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O Lord,
according to thy lovingkindness.
160. Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of
thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.
In this section the Psalmist seems to draw still nearer to God in prayer, and
to state his case and to invoke the divine help with more of boldness and
expectation. It is a pleading passage, and the keyword of it is,
“Consider.” With much boldness he pleads his intimate union with the
Lord’s cause as a reason why he should be aided. The special aid that he
seeks is personal quickening, for which he cries to the Lord again and
again.
153. “Consider mine affliction, and deliver me: for I do not forget thy
law.”
“Consider mine affliction, and deliver me.” The writer has a good case,
though it be a grievous one, and he is ready, yea, anxious, to submit it to
the divine arbitration. His matters are right, and he is ready to lay them
before the supreme court. His manner is that of one who feels safe at the
throne. Yet there is no impatience; he does not ask for hasty action, but for
consideration. In effect he cries — “Look into my grief, and see whether I
do not need to be delivered. From my sorrowful condition judge as to the
proper method and time for my rescue:” The Psalmist desires two things,
and these two things blended: first, a full consideration of his sorrow;
secondly, deliverance; and, then, that this deliverance should come with a
consideration of his affliction. It should be the desire of every gracious man
who is in adversity that the Lord should look upon his need, and relieve it
in such a way as shall be most for the divine glory, and for his own benefit.
The words, “mine affliction,” are picturesque; they seem to portion off a
special spot of woe as the writer’s own inheritance: he possesses it as no
one else had ever done, and he begs the Lord to have that special spot
under his eye: even as a husbandman looking over all his fields may yet
take double care of a certain selected plot. His prayer is eminently
practical, for he seeks to be delivered; that is, brought out of his trouble
and preserved from sustaining any serious damage by it For God to
“consider” is to act in due season: men consider and do nothing; but such
is never the case with our God.
“For I do not forget thy law.” His affliction was not sufficient, with all its
bitterness, to drive out of his mind the memory of God’s law; nor could it
lead him to act contrary to the divine command. He forgot prosperity, but
he did not forget obedience. This is a good plea when it can be honestly
urged. If we are kept faithful to God’s precept, we may be sure that God
will remain faithful to his promise. If we do not forget his law, the Lord
will not forget us. He will not long leave that man in trouble whose only
fear in trouble is lest he should leave the way of right.
154 “Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy
word.”
“Plead my cause, and deliver me?” In the last verse he had prayed,
“Deliver me,” and here he specifies one method in which that deliverance
might be vouch-safed, namely, by the advocacy of his cause. In providence
the Lord has many ways of clearing the slandered of the accusations
brought against them. He can make it manifest to all that they have been
belied, and in this way he can practically plead their cause. He can,
moreover, raise up friends for the godly who will leave no stone unturned
till their characters are cleared; or he can smite their enemies with such
fearfulness of heart that they will be forced to confess their falsehood, and
thus the righteous will be delivered without the striking of a blow. Dr.
Alexander reads it, “Strive my strife, and redeem me” — that is, stand in
my stead, bear my burden, fight my fight, pay my price, and bring me out
to liberty. When we feel ourselves dumb before the foe, here is a prayer
made to our hand. What a comfort that if we sin we have an advocate, and
if we do not sin the same pleader is engaged on our side!
“Quicken me.” We had this prayer in the last section, and we shall have it
again and again in this. It is a desire which cannot be too often felt and
expressed. As the soul is the center of everything, so to be quickened is the
central blessing. More life means more love, more grace, more faith, more
courage, more strength; and if we get these we can hold up our heads
before our adversaries. God alone can give this quickening; but to the Lord
and Giver of life the wink is easy enough, and he delights to perform it.
“According to thy word.” David had found the blessing of quickening
among the promised things, or at least he perceived that it was according
to the general tenor of God’s word that tried believers should be quickened
and brought up again from the dust of the earth; therefore he pleads the
word, and desires the Lord to act to him according to the usual run of that
word. It is an implied if not an expressed promise, that the Lord will
quicken his people. What a mighty plea is this — “according to thy
word’”! No gun in all our arsenals can match it.
155. “Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes.”
“Salvation is far from the wicked.” By their perseverance in evil they
have almost put themselves out of the pale of hope. They talk about being
saved. but they cannot know anything of it or they would not remain
wicked. Every step they have taken in the path of evil has removed them
further from the kingdom of grace: they go from one degree of hardness to
another till their hearts become as stone. When they fall into trouble it will
be irremediable. Yet they talk big, as if they either needed no salvation, or
could save themselves whenever their fancy turned that way. They are so
far off from salvation that they do not even know what it means.
“For they seek not thy statutes.” They do not endeavor to be obedient,
but quite the reverse; they seek themselves, they seek evil, and therefore
they never find the way of peace and righteousness. When men have
broken the statutes of the Lord, their wisest course is by repentance to
seek forgiveness, and by faith to seek: salvation: then salvation is near
them, so near them that they shall not miss it; but when the wicked
continue to seek after mischief, salvation is set further and further from
them. Salvation and God’s statutes go together: those who are saved by
the King of grace love the statutes of the King of glory. The main reason
why men are not saved is that they get away from the Word of God.
156. “Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord’” quicken me according to
thy judgments.”
This verse is exceedingly like verse one hundred and forty-nine, and yet it
is no vain repetition. There is such a difference in the main idea, that the
one verse stands out distinct from the other. In the first case he mentions
his prayer, but leaves the method of its accomplishment with the wisdom or
judgment of God; while here he pleads no prayer of his own, but simply the
mercies of the Lord, and begs to be quickened by judgments rather than to
be left to spiritual lethargy. We may take it for granted that an inspired
author is never so short of thoughts as to be obliged to repeat himself:
where we think we have a repetition of the same idea in this psalm we are
misled by our neglect of careful study. Each verse is a distinct pearl. Each
blade of grass in this field has its own drop of heavenly dew.